I went to Hawthorne Florida to shoot with Dick Vautrinot for a few days on Lochloosa Lake. The mission was bald eagles.

The weather was not looking good, so on day one we lit out for parts unknown (to me). Dick drove us down to Fort DeSoto near Tampa on the ocean and almost immediately we spotted a female Reddish Egret in a tidal pool looking for food. Her suitor showed up just a couple of minutes later. I just kept shooting.

This was the maiden voyage for my Sony 600mm prime lens and I was happy to get these shots. I didn’t know just how good they were till I got home.

I think of the shot of her staring lovingly into his eyes as the best wildlife photo I’ve taken at this stage in my career. Career usually indicates that you get paid for this, but I’m using the term loosely.

From there we went to Philippe Park and saw the Great Horned Owl fledglings branching. It was a pretty good day. After our impromptu trip to the Tampa area, we spent a couple of days on Lochloosa Lake chasing Eagles and Ospreys in flight.

The process is to ride around on Dick’s pontoon boat and when he sees activity he races towards it with all possible speed. If you are good with the camera you can manage some shots while you are at top speed. If you are lucky you will be in position when the activity gets good, like birds fighting or feeding.